Revisiting The Netnography: Implications For Social Marketing Research Concerning Controversial And/Or Sensitive Issues

Abstract

In doing primary data collection, social marketers must ask people questions about topics such as smoking, sickness, sex, and charity- topics that touch people’s deepest fears, anxieties, and values. While people are generally willing to be interviewed about these topics, they are more likely to give inaccurate, self-serving, or socially desirable answers to such questions than to questions about cake mixes, soft drinks, or cereals. (Bloom and Novelli 1981, p.80)